It’s old versus new on this week’s episode of Head 2 Head. Host Jason Cammisa goes to Germany to see if the original Volkswagen Scirocco 16V is anywhere near as good as the current European-only Scirocco. After a brief history lesson on the GTI-based Scirocco, Cammisa drives the two V-dub sports coupes back to back. [...]

Lincoln is striving hard to reinvent itself and once again gain credence as an American luxury brand. Having refreshed the MKS sedan MKT crossover last fall, Lincoln is now rolling out the all-new 2013 MKZ sedan at the 2012 New York auto show. Although the car is essentially based on the 2013 Ford Fusion, there are few obvious similarities between the cars. The new MKZ has a striking, elegant design, as well as a laundry list of upmarket features, that demonstrate Lincoln's commitment to revamping its image.

It's time for a mid-cycle face-lift for Nissan's flagship sedan, but you'll have to look closely at the face of the 2007 Maxima, because Nissan's stylists were awfully stingy with the Botox. The freshened front end has had its nose stretched slightly, and new, sleeker headlamps are surrounded by more wedge-shaped sheetmetal. A bigger rear spoiler for the SE model, more aggressive side sills, and a reshaped rear bumper round out the exterior modifications.

The launch of an all-new M-Class last year seems to have sparked a wave of renovation within the Mercedes-Benz SUV portfolio. The automaker has hinted at a revised G-Class, shown off an updated GLK-Class model, and now, at the 2012 New York auto show, has officially launched the all-new 2013 Mercedes-Benz GL-Class.

San Antonio, Texas - Fright'ning might be a better name for the SVT version of Ford's F-150 pickup. Increased power, new shocks, and a few minor appearance updates are all that distinguish the 2001 Lightning from last year's model, but some of these changes are worth noting if you plan to test Newton's Laws of Motion from the bench seat of a pickup.

Marussia Virgin Racing have launched their car to take on the 2011 world championship in a lavish London ceremony. The Marussia name now preceeds Virgin following a major tie up with the Russian sportscar manufacturer and the team at the end of 2010. It has led to the new car being designated as the MVR-02. [...]

Seventeen years after Lexus introduced the first LS luxury sedan at the 1989 Detroit auto show, the company unveiled its fourth-generation flagship sedan, the LS460, in Motown. As successful as the LS400 and the LS430 have been, they have never quite measured up to the big, long-wheelbase offerings from Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, and Jaguar in terms of sheer size, street presence, and prestige, even if they often exceeded them in refinement, reliability, and quality. Now that Toyota is expanding the Lexus brand beyond North America to Japan, Europe, and other world markets, the automaker hopes to compete neck-to-neck with the S-class, the 7-series, the A8, and the XJ8 with the LS460L, which debuted in Detroit as the first-ever, long-wheelbase LS. Lexus also announced that the new LS will be equipped with the world's first eight-speed automatic transmission, a big poke in the eye to Mercedes, which introduced a seven-speed automatic only recently. "That's right," said Jim Press, president and COO of Toyota Motor Sales during the unveiling of the LS460. "Eight speeds. We're uppin' 'em one."

Going up against such established models as the Ford Mustang, Porsche Cayman and others, few thought the Kia Optima would be a formidable contender in the Pirelli World Challenge series. But the brand’s midsize sedan has surprised many in its rookie season, finishing fourth overall in manufacturer and driver standings for the season. Kia’s duo [...]

The Volkswagen Alltrack concept is a raised, all-wheel-drive station wagon, and you're correct in thinking we've seen this recipe before. The Subaru Outback is also an all-wheel-drive wagon that tries to bridge the gap between sedan and SUV. Volkswagen's take on that idea, the Alltrack concept, makes its debut at the New York auto show.

Marussia Virgin Racing have launched their car to take on the 2011 world championship in a lavish London ceremony. The Marussia name now preceeds Virgin following a major tie up with the Russian sportscar manufacturer and the team at the end of 2010. It has led to the new car being designated as the MVR-02. [...]

Ann Arbor - Our founder and editor emeritus, David E. Davis, Jr., had a new idea for the Toyota Tundra pickup truck we added to our Four Seasons test fleet in late 1999. He would send it to northern Michigan for use as a real live workhorse at Red's Bog, his idyllic retreat on the west side of the state. His ranch foreman, Jerry Keie, would have charge of Toyota's big new truck and keep notes from a real working man's perspective.

Monday, 27 August 2012

In the last few weeks, Volkswagen has finally become the world’s number-one automobile manufacturer, following a four-year tussle for the control of Porsche. For the chairman of VW’s Supervisory Board Ferdinand Piech it is the end of a lifelong struggle to unite the two companies, both of which were founded by Ferdinand Porsche. His goal [...]

San Antonio, Texas - Fright'ning might be a better name for the SVT version of Ford's F-150 pickup. Increased power, new shocks, and a few minor appearance updates are all that distinguish the 2001 Lightning from last year's model, but some of these changes are worth noting if you plan to test Newton's Laws of Motion from the bench seat of a pickup.

If this big red chunk of hotness looks familiar, it's probably because you've seen it before: Alfa unveiled a concept version of the Competizione at the Frankfurt show in 2003. That look-but-don't-drive concept pretty much blew everyone's minds (the headlights look less bugeyed in person, we promise). A year later, at the 2005 Pebble Beach Concours, Alfa pulled the wraps off of a roadster version of the car. It too was gorgeous.

Jenson Button teamed up with record breaking cyclist Lance Armstrong, as he continues to prepare for another Formula One season. The McLaren driver excitedly tweeted that he would be riding with Armstrong, the 7 time Tour de France winner, in Hawaii. Armstrong responded via Twitter “I hope he doesn’t ride as srong as he drives [...]

Sunday, 26 August 2012

Volkswagen won’t officially reveal the next-generation Golf (and possibly a GTI) until the Paris Motor Show in September, but that’s not stopping details on its all-new C-segment hatchback from hitting the Internet ahead of schedule. The latest data download comes courtesy of a new video floating around YouTube, which is comprised of still photos taken [...]

Saint-Genis, France - It's always nice to get a gift from your rich German uncle. Mercedes-Benz has handed off a 215-hp, turbocharged and intercooled, 3.0-liter diesel V-6 to the Chrysler Group, which has stuffed it under the hood of the 300 sedan. With 376 lb-ft of torque, just 11 lb-ft less than the 5.7-liter Hemi V-8, this engine propels the 300 to 62 mph in 7.6 seconds, only 1.2 seconds slower than the Hemi. And it returns an average of 29 mpg when cruising at 80 mph. Unfortunately, the 300C CRD (common-rail diesel) isn't offered in America.

Fernando Alonso says he’s relieved to have qualified as high as sixth in Hungary after worrying that he’d end up further down the order, given Ferrari’s struggle for pace this weekend. Alonso starts immediately ahead of his team mate Felipe … Continue reading →

Significance: No, it isn't the cutest convertible on the market, but at least it's got some cool features. But the heated cup holders and a music-holding hard drive pale in comparison to the top options: vinyl, cloth, and steel are all available.

Catching up on the launches in one mega post. Here in you’ll find quick interviews with senior members of the team and photos from the Red Bull, Sauber, Renault Lotus, Toro Rosso, Mercedes and McLaren launches. Apologies for being somewhat late, the whole blog isn’t running at full power until the season starts again. Red [...]

New and exciting products were a big part of the solution when Carlos Ghosn first blew in to right Nissan's wagon in 1999, and one of the first eye-openers to come out during his watch was the new, larger Altima of 2002. It quickly became a bestseller in America, surpassing all targets to sell a record (and almost Accord- and Camry-like) 255,000 units last year. But products grow stale in hypertime nowadays, and as Nissan's overall sales cool off in a most un-Honda- and un-Toyota-like fashion, a new Altima has arrived to lead another charge.

Team Lotus (the one who raced last year) have become the second team to officially pull the covers off their new 2011 car. The green and yellow liveried machine will start be raced by Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen this season under the name of Team Lotus as the management’s row with Group Lotus, now [...]

We have just received word that the testing process of these “connected” cars is not only a Mercedes job, as the DOT has brought in 3,000 vehicles to test their crash-avoidance skills. This is actually the second phase of product testing, but the first time that the DOT will actually test the Wi-Fi communication between these vehicles.

Once all of this information is gathered, the DOT will crunch the numbers and is expected to make a decision on continuing testing this technology or not sometime in 2013. the goal of this testing phase is to find out “how to apply the technology in an effective way in the real word,” according to David Strickland, NHTSA Administrator.

Now, don’t confuse this progress with movement toward automated vehicles. This is just one of the many major steps toward legalizing autonomous cars, but not the final decision. If this test goes well, then this does set the ball moving slightly faster on automated cars.

Thursday, 23 August 2012

Lincoln is hoping that, together with the new Zephyr sedan, the MKX will entice younger and hipper buyers into its showrooms, which have been lacking anything youthful or stylish for quite some time. Based on Mazda 6 architecture, the MKX uses the same 3.5 V-6 and front- or all-wheel drive components as the similar Ford Edge, but offers swiveling headlights and other luxuries not available on the Ford. When it goes on sale in the fall of 2006, this handsome crossover will be the first production model to follow Lincoln's new naming convention, which ditches familiar names like Aviator and Continental in favor of generic letter combinations. Hey, didn't every other luxury brand start doing that last decade?

Michael Schumacher’s 2010 comeback was somewhat abortive. The results, the driving standard and the overtakes were well below par for the former champion. He even let his team mate beat him for the first time in his career. So why can Schumacher, the fallen Ferrari hero, win the world championship for an 8th time? It’s [...]

Fernando Alonso is the new favourite to win the Formula One drivers’ title, said David Coulthard in his column for The Telegraph.

“He is the man with the momentum and, on the same basis that I backed Mark Webber to win the title before Korea, is now my favourite to claim the world title in Abu Dhabi on Nov 14. “When the cars are so evenly-matched you have to back the man in possession. Especially when that man is a two-time world champion and arguably the finest driver of his generation.”

The Mirror’s Byron Young drew comparisons between Alonso and seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher as the Spaniard bids to become the sport’s youngest ever triple world champion.

“Like Schumacher, Alonso accepts no opposition within his team. Ultimately he fell out with McLaren over their refusal in 2007 to bring Lewis Hamilton to heel. “He returned to Renault on condition he was No.1, only to be at the centre of the Singapore cheat scandal - engineered to hand him victory. “The Spaniard has always denied involvement but at the German GP in July he was brazen enough to radio Ferrari to rein in team-mate Felipe Massa so he could start the winning streak that has taken him to the brink of history.”

If 510 hp isn’t enough for you, don’t fret. Jaguar may have a more potent iteration of the XFR’s 5.0-liter V-8 in store. The guys at Motor Trend recently spotted the British marque testing what could be the rumored XFR-S at the Nürburgring, barely covered by camouflage. Given the minimalist camo job, this mule could [...]

UPDATE ON KUBICA’s CONDITION: http://wp.me/p3uiu-11K Renault Lotus F1 driver Robert Kubica has been airlifted to hospital following a car accident while competing on a rally. The incident, described as a high speed accident, left the Pole injured and he had to be airlifted to hospital. His co-driver Jakub Gerber was uninjured in the incident. While [...]

Honda's roller-skate-sized Civic put the company on the map in America during the first gasoline shock back in 1973, and since then, Honda has been cranking out successive--and usually excellent--iterations of its small car, regardless of where a gallon of unleaded was charting at the moment.